Zorman’s Inside-Out Course Builds Bridges
February 20, 2025
In the 1990s, Temple University professor Lori Pompa prototyped a course that allowed traditional students to ditch their familiar university surroundings for a few hours each week to learn in a prison setting alongside incarcerated students. The resulting Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program spread globally, reaching The Claremont Colleges in 2018. This fall, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Leadership Professor Werner Zorman taught Interpersonal Dynamics for the first time at the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) in Norco.
“This wasn’t just a course,” says Zorman. “It was an experience in fostering vulnerability, bridging differences and creating an inclusive space for growth among 15 individuals with radically different life experiences.” An expert in leadership development with a special interest in group dynamics, Zorman had a longstanding interest in the Inside-Out program. At an intensive training program in July 2024, he heard anecdotes from previous program graduates and instructors and set out adapting Interpersonal Dynamics – a course he’s taught numerous times at Mudd – for Inside-Out students.
Walter and Leonore Annenberg Leadership Professor Werner Zorman
